A 3-year-old boy was mauled to death Sunday when he fell into the African painted dog exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium, the zoo said.

A zoo news release said keepers were able to clear seven of the 11 dogs after the child fell, and darts were shot to scare the dogs away from the child. But “unfortunately, the dogs were in pack mentality and not responding.”

“The screams just kept coming and coming: ‘Someone help. Someone has to do something,’” Angela Cinti, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The newspaper said the tragedy occurred shortly before noon at the Highland Park complex, and the zoo was shut down within a half-hour. The report said the zoo will stay closed indefinitely.

A Pittsburgh police officer shot and killed one of the 11 dogs in the exhibit who refused to leave the child‘s body, the newspaper said..

Zoo President and Chief Executive Officer Barbara Baker said the child was with his mother when he fell over a wooden railing and off of a mesh barrier. A zoo spokeswoman told the newspaper the railing is 4 feet high and the barrier is 14 feet above the open exhibit space.

The report did not give the name of the child or his mother. (UPI)



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아프리카들개, 동물원서 아이 물어 죽여..

미국 피츠버그 동물원에서 개를 구경하던 3세 어린아이가 우리 안으로 떨어져 개들에게 공격 당한 후 목숨을 잃은 끔찍한 사고가 발생했다.

동물원 측의 발표에 따르면 사고 당시 조련사들이 급히 11마리의 개들 가운데 일곱 마리를 떼어 놓았지만 집단 행동으로 인해 각성한 상태라 말을 듣지 않은 것으로 알려졌다.

미국 피츠버그의 하이랜드 파크에서 오전에 발생한 이 사건이 발생한 지 30분만에 동물원은 즉시 폐쇄됐으며 당분간 잠정 영업을 하지 않을 것이라고 현지 언론이 보도했다.

동물원장 바바라 베이커는 아이가 목재 난간 너머로 추락할 당시 엄마와 함께 있었다고 밝혔다. 동물원 대변인은 언론을 통해 설치된 난간은 아이가 혼자 넘지 못하도록 충분히 높았다고 밝혔다. (코리아헤럴드)